Combination shoe rack



Oct. 20, 1931. T. F. MATTHEWS 1,823,331

CQMBINATION SHOE RACK Filed Jan. 10, 1929 INVENTOR.

. a V ATTORNEY.

Patented Oct. 20, 1931 r i c I ST TES PATENT OFFICE p I Application filed January 10, 1929. Serial No. 331,543.

This invention relates to racks of the type when read in connection with the accompany-- used to convey shoes from one nanufactur ing drawings, and the novel features will be ing operation to the next. particularly pointed-out in the appended According to theusual'practicethe shoes claims. I V goon to the racks in the assembling room and In the drawings, they are carried on racks until the manufac- Figurel is a side viewof a rack embodying turing operations have been completed and this invention; and V they areready to be packed. 'At the present Fig. 2 is an end view of the rack shown in time there are two types offracks used chiefly Fig. 1. r 7 "1b and ordinarily referred to as pin or i The construction shown comprises a frame 50 paddle racks and shelf racks. It is a 2 which usually is made of wood, although it common practice also to use two types of may also be made of metal ifdesired. At the shelf racks, one in which theshelvesare diopposite ends of the rack the upright corner vided into compartments, each adapted to'repieces are rigidly connected by horizontal end ceive a shoe, and another in which the shelves members 3, and in the construction shown 5 are not so divided, but inwhich the shelves eachof these end members is cutaway for a are covered with cloth, this rfack being used portion of itslength to provide a notch or more particularly to hold the shoes while shoulder 4 in which a horizontal bar 5 is se- 1 they are being tran s'ferre dlfrom one finish cured. Each of these bars carriesa series of ing operation tov another. It is a very eom paddles or pins 6 which are secured rigidly in 7 noon practice to place the shoes in a parti the bar and are inclined upwardly at a slight tioned' shelf rack jiinme'diately after the asangle; The paddles are so located that a suitsemblin operatiomto transfer them-to a in able' p ce s p o i d e n a pair o or paddle rack at some oint in th makingp addles to receive a shoe in an inverted posii125 process this type of rack bing adapted to 131011. That is, the ankle portion of the shoe 75' hold the shoesseparate froin each other and e on n twe the pinsor Paddles w h i i t d iti d th n t t a f the bottom of the shoe uppermost. Each bar the shoes to a cloth covered shelf rack in the h cooperating Set of Paddles is adapted t g i Qm V r to support a dozen shoes, or six pairs, as will It willbe evident thatwherethis practice be Obvious from HH-iIISPQCtiOfi 01E the (lYElW so is followed three different rack constructions g and the bars are reversely arranscdwith are required, and that the transfer: of the three 011 P Side Of rack 80 h h shoes from one type of'rack to another necestlle Tack 1 Support thirty-six pairs. sarily involves congestion at thepointwhere LoQilteClbetween and alternatmg Wlthtlw thi t f i dj F r thi e son it'h pin bars or'paddle bars'are shelves 7 whi h been customary not to make the transfer as can bBIQVQFSQd rotated b either Sid) an incident to some manufacturing operapp The9 s l of y tion, but to transfer the shoes as a separate i p Fonstlfuctmn f conslstms a r ti t some i nt; tati i board with suitable end pieces and preferably Th ij'i fi n' i t d i a r k. provided with marginal strips Sfto prevent which will dispense with the necessity of t Shoe from slidinar off the shelv 0 t fe i th ho s f on k t n. side of each shelf is left smooth or substana other; In other Words, it aims to prcvideg tiallyuninterrupted, as will be seen'from an rack in which the shoes canfbe supported i spection of the uppermost shelf shown in throughout the. entire process" of manufac-J g. his S de O the shelf preferably being; ture, and which will, n'evertheless', have all of covered with cloth. The opposite side is' dithe advantages of the three"diiferenttypes of vid'ed by partitions 9 into a 'series of comracks now used; r f 7 partments, preferably twelve in; number; The nature of the invention'will be readily Each shelf'has pivotslO projectingcentrally understood from the followingdescription from opposite ends thereof,andthesepivots scarred or injured as in shoe racns are located in inclined slots 12 formed in the end pieces 3. Secured to the inner side of each of the end pieces 3 is a stationary locking piece 14 having a notch in one side thereof of such dimensions that the edge of a shelf 7 will fit freely into it. It will be clear from an inspection of the lowermost shelf 7 in Fig. 2 that the inclined slots 12 at the opposite ends of the shelf cooperate with the two pivot pins for this shelf to hold it by gravity in its locked position in the locking devices 14. In other words, the shelf at this time is locked against reversal. At the same time by moving this shelf toward the right and sliding the pivot pins upwardly in the slots 12, the

shelf can be disengaged from its locking devices 14 and can then be reversed and replaced in the locking devices.

This arrangement thus permits the use of the shelves with either their partitioned or cloth covered sides uppermost, as desired. The shelves can readily be reversed to bring either side uppermost, and they can be quickly locked in either position where they will be securely held, but can be quickly released,

from the locking means whenever desired.

In using a rack of this construction the shoes are placed in the compartments between adjacent partitions 9 of the shelves innnediately after the assembling operation, and they usually remain in this position between successive manufacturing operations until they reach the last operation in the lasting room, namely, tack pulling. In performing this operation the workman takes a shoe from the shelf, pulls the tacks, and then places the shoe between the stationar pins or paddles 6 with the sole uppermost. Usually the shoes go through the making and fini: hing rooms in this position, but when the shoes are finished and go to the treeing room the treer turns the shelves, and as he completes the treein operation on each shoe, he places it on the uninterrupted or cloth covered side of one of the shelves. From this point on it is desirable to have the shoes stand right side up since the uppers would be marred if they were placed bottom side up between the pins or paddles. The cloth covering on the shelves protects the bottoms of the shoes from becoming scratched or soiled.

The shoes thus are carried through the entire manufacturing operations on a single rack, transferring of the shoes from one rack to another being avoided. They are supported in substantially the same manner that they are in the racks heretofore used, and they are protected as effectually from contact with each other and from becoming of prior constructions. This rack, also, has the advantage of being cleaned more easily than shelf racks of the usual type since practically all of the dirt will drop oifthe shelves when they are reversed.

While I have herein shown and described a preferred embodiment of my invention, it will be understood that the invention may be embodied in other forms without departing from the spirit or scope thereof.

Having thus described my invention, what I desire to claim as new is:

1. In a shoe rack, the combination of a frame, a plurality of reversible shelves supported in said frame, each of said shelves having pivot pins projecting from the opposite ends thereof, said frame having inclined slots to receive said pivot pins, and stationary locks for the shelves, said inclined slots cooperating with said pins to hold the shelves by gravity in cooperative relationship to their respective locks.

2. In a shoe rack, the combination of a frame, a plurality of reversible shelves supported in said frame, each of said shelves having a smooth substantially uninterrupted surface on one side and being providedwith marginal pieces cooperating with the shelf to form a tray, transverse partitions on the other side of each shelf dividing the latter side of the shelf into compartments each adapted to receive a shoe, means supporting said shelves for reversal whereby either side may be presented uppermost in position for supporting a series of shoes, and means for locking said shelves against reversal.

3. In a shoe rack, the combination of a frame, a plurality of shelves reversibly supported in said frame, each shelf being constructed to support a series of shoes in either of its 7 positions, means for locking said shelves against reversal, and rows of paddles located between adjacent superposed shelves and adapted to support shoes in inverted positions.

4. In a shoerack, the combination of a frame, a plurality of shelves pivotally supported in said frame for reversal whereby either side of each shelf may be presented uppermost in position for supporting a series of shoes, means for locking said shelves against reversal, and means supporting each shelf and its locking means for relative gravitational movement, whereby the weight of the shelf and the shoes thereon will be effective to lock the shelf against reversal with either of its sides uppermost.

5. In a shoe rack, the combination of a frame, a plurality of shelvespivotally supported in said frame for reversal whereby either side of each shelf may be presented uppermost in position for supporting a series of shoes, means for locking said shelves against reversal, and means supporting each shelf for gravitational movement relative to its locking means, whereby the weight of the shelf and the shoes thereon will be effective to lock the shelf against reversal with either of its sides uppermost. I

THOMAS MATTHEWS. 

